City Life - The Barcelona Blueprint
- Description
- Reviews
- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
If you are not affiliated with a college or university, and are interested in watching this film, please register as an individual and login to rent this film. Already registered? Login to rent this film.
Once the industrial heart of the region of Catalonia in Spain, Barcelona could have become just another burnt-out, rust-belt European city that failed to find a role in the modern, globalized world. But what set Barcelona apart from other European cities was a visionary local government that decided to radically redevelop the city in the run-up to the 1992 Olympics -- a redevelopment that involved all of the city's population.
Barcelona today is a model 21st century city, combining historic buildings with modern architecture in a fusion that has helped make it one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe.
This program from the City Life series starts with a short tour of the city's seafront with Barcelona's Chief Architect Josep Acebillo and UK architect and urban planner Richard Rogers, before moving on to a studio debate on the process at the Special Session of the UN General Assembly in New York in summer 2001, held to review progress from the 1996 UN City Summit in Istanbul.
Citation
Main credits
Bradshaw, Steve (film director)
Bradshaw, Steve (narrator)
Haberer, Pierre (editor of moving image work)
Ochoa, Georgina (film producer)
Gawin, Luke (film producer)
Richards, Jenny (editor of moving image work)
Other credits
Editor, Pierre Haberer; music, The Definitive Break; producer, Georgina Ochoa; series producer, Luke Gawin; series editor, Jenny Richards.
Distributor subjects
Anthropology; European Studies; Global Issues; Globalization; Humanities; International Studies; Population; Sociology; Sustainable Development; Urban Studies; Urban and Regional PlanningKeywords
WEBVTT
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.999
Previously on Life… I think
there are loser cities
00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:09.999
and there are winner cities. Cities do die.
00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:14.999
Cities decay. We started with empires
00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:19.999
mostly in the 19th century. We came to
the initial states of the disenchanted
00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:25.000
and believe me through globalization now, we
are entering, this is a century of cities.
00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:59.999
Welcome to this edition of Life
00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:04.999
and welcome also to Barcelona, said to be one of
the most successful cities in the 21st century
00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:09.999
and certainly one of the most popular
tourist destinations in Europe.
00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:14.999
What better to discuss what makes
cities work in the 21st century?
00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:19.999
Barcelona is the city by the sea,
00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:24.999
it\'s also an old industrial city that could all
too easily become a burnt-out, Rust Belt town
00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:29.999
left behind by the globalized world. What saved
Barcelona was a progressive city council
00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:34.999
which planed for and invested in the
future, renovating derelict neighborhoods
00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:39.999
and the old docks, without destroying
cities old Catalonian charm.
00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:44.999
Barcelona is a city of 3 million people
00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:49.999
which could have had 3 million visions of the future,
but this city listen to people\'s hopes and fears
00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:54.999
and produced a single coherent vision, which
so far has been a remarkable success.
00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:59.999
The man who has the job of turning that
vision into reality is Jose Acebillo,
00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:04.999
who\'s enlisted the help of world renowned
British architect Richard Rogers.
00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:09.999
Just explain to me a little
about where we are now
00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:14.999
and how you\'ve changed this area, we\'re
standing in? Now this area is very
00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:19.999
uh… typical for the
visualization of this question.
00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:24.999
For example this is the architecture
of Barcelona during the 19th century.
00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:29.999
This enormous building was designed
and built in the Franco period.
00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:34.999
And during the last ten years they have
Port Authority and the municipality arrived
00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:39.999
to agreement in order to be
public, this area that we are now
00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:44.999
and this is the building for the facilities
of the people residing the last 10 years.
00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:49.999
And in the other side in the Olympic
Village we have the possibility
00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:54.999
to relationship with the sea because Barcelona
has been always in the edge of the… of the sea
00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:59.999
but the… for the citizens, it\'s not
possible to arrive to the water practically
00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:04.999
till the 92 operations. Mr. Rogers, what are your
feeling looking at this landscape around us,
00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:09.999
which could have been an old burnt-out Rust
Belt industrial waterfront, couldn\'t it?
00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:14.999
I love Barcelona very much
because of what it has done
00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:19.999
in the last 20 years.
Barcelona is the ideal
00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:24.999
for most planners and architects
in terms that it\'s the jewel
00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:29.999
in the crown which we\'re trying to achieve
in other cities. Nothing\'s ever perfect
00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:34.999
but they\'ve got nearer to that dealing with the industrial
past which was a very difficult period because we\'re seeing
00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:39.999
the end of heavy industry. This was a great port
where we\'re staying and they\'ve changed it.
00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:44.999
On one side of course the new
industries as well as moved the port.
00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:49.999
But also with the quality of life living
work leisure which is exceptional.
00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:54.999
And this sort of dream we see around us is slightly
sort of television set, ambience around here,
00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:59.999
that is something which is practical, which can be copied
elsewhere. And as an architect, you… you believe that is possible?
00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:04.999
I\'m quite sure. I mean, I think nearly
every major city has for instance,
00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:09.999
whether it\'s a river, whether it\'s a lake uh… or whether they
see that and usually it\'s one of the most beautiful place
00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:14.999
and often it\'s the most wasted place because
it\'s where the industry is to be installed.
00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:19.999
So that\'s… that\'s using an asset, you know,
God-given asset and making it really tell in
00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:24.999
the everyday quality of life. Isn\'t there a problem in
many cities that are becoming increasingly divided,
00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:29.999
perhaps because of globalization, some…
few people doing fine, most aren\'t.
00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:34.999
Doesn\'t that make it more difficult to produce the kind of political
consensus which you need to make something like this work?
00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:39.999
Globalization is good and bad
because the good news is,
00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:44.999
we can now start going to uh… one end of
that… You can go to… You can go to Seattle
00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:49.999
or you can see it on television if you
like. Uh… You can go to San Francisco,
00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:54.999
you can go to Curitiba and get those lessons
and those… So you know you can do it
00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:59.999
and it isn\'t all about money, it\'s about… it\'s about vision.
The bad side of it is when you get private investment
00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:04.999
who have no interest except for a quick buck
and therefore you have to mix the knowledge
00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:09.999
if you like of business and making money but
also recognize that business is not about… about
00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:14.999
quality of life in long-term, that wasn\'t their
role, I mean, but the citizens are about.
00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:19.999
So they have to balance citizen,
the mares and… and business
00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:24.999
in… in a mixed economy. Common vision
not just chaos? Common vision.
00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:29.999
So Barcelona, the dream city, not the case
perhaps for quite everyone who lives here
00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:34.999
but it is a decent working model maybe for the rest of the
world. Now here with me in the studios of Catalan Television
00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:39.999
to discuss the future of cities and towns
in this urbanized and globalized century.
00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:44.999
Jose Acebillo, the architects and Chief
for Barcelona, who you just met.
00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:49.999
Gary Lawrence, who had the threading but surely sometimes
nightmarish job of actually being an urban planner.
00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:54.999
Gary was Planning Director for the city of
Seattle on the Pacific Coast of the USA.
00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:59.999
He now runs his own firm, Sustainable Strategies and
Solutions and he advises citizens around the world.
00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:04.999
He\'s also part of the U.S. delegation
to the 1996 UN City Summit in Istanbul.
00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:09.999
Kalpana Sharma… Kalpana Sharma is Deputy
Editor of the Hindu newspaper in India.
00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:14.999
She writes on Environment and
Development and specializes
00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:19.999
in cities and the urban poor, which is the subject
of her latest book \"Rediscovering Dharavi.\"
00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:24.999
Michael Parkes is here from the UN Center
for Human Settlements known as Habitat.
00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:29.999
That\'s the organization responsible for
coordinating this week\'s five-year review of
00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:34.999
the UN City Summit in New York. Barcelona the
ideal, city it can\'t be that simple, can it?
00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:39.999
I\'ve never been in any urban
setting where there\'s
00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:44.999
uh… so many different lives trying to compete for
the same space that there aren\'t some conflicts.
00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:49.999
I think Barcelona has done a magnificent job in…
in its urban design, the layout of the city
00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:54.999
and by reputation it\'s
a well-governed city.
00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:59.999
Kalpana, what are your first impressions of being in Barcelona?
Well, the thing I found most interesting was the fact that
00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:04.999
there is this old centre of the city, which is a living
center. I mean, so often I think you create tourist sites
00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:09.999
where people are expelled and you know it\'s made for tourists.
And I talked to some of the people that I even found
00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:14.999
Indians and Pakistanis living there. But of course it\'s too short
a visit to know whether they are also marginalized communities
00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:19.999
that are not incorporated into what we
as visitors see and that is a question
00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:24.999
that always arises with cities. Michael, is
Barcelona a model city for the United Nations?
00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:29.999
Are we pushing a point of it? I
think it\'s… I think it shows
00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:34.999
what you can do to make a city an attractive
place to… to live in. You can upgrade.
00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:39.999
You can make the physical side attractive but also
the social side. I mean, what… what you\'ve done is…
00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:44.999
is involved the people in… in the process of
making Barcelona such an excellent place.
00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:49.999
But just… just going back to what you were just
asking. You do see that on the threshold of Barcelona
00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:54.999
coming from the airport, the new people
coming in, who are having to squat.
00:07:55.000 --> 00:07:59.999
So you do get a sort of image of a part of a
city in the south, in the developing world.
00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:04.999
So there are problems or opportunities that both developing
countries and the First-World have in common now.
00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:09.999
That\'s one of the things that you and your colleagues are
going to be concentrating on, are concentrating on this week
00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:14.999
at the U.N. Cities Meeting in New York.
Can you explain what that is about
00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:19.999
and what you\'re trying to achieve? Habitat. The
United Nations and of Human Settlements is concerned
00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:24.999
with those two things, with housing,
with shelter and… and with…
00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:29.999
When shelter comes together to make towns, the reality
is that half the world living in awful conditions.
00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:34.999
And there\'s perhaps over 1 billion people who
are living with less than a dollar a day,
00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:39.999
so they haven\'t got access to loans, they hadn\'t got houses,
they haven\'t got security and they probably haven\'t got
00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:44.999
access to water and services. Uh… So we… we
were attempting to raise the profile of that,
00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:49.999
the… the urban development side is…
is to do with making cities work,
00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:54.999
with getting the traffic to flow, access to schools and
clinics. Now obviously this is a problem throughout the world.
00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:59.999
What kind of small team of bureaucrats
working for the United Nations possibly do?
00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:04.999
We\'ve got to actually be positive and
look that cities are actually can help
00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:09.999
the whole story of sustainable development. They\'re actually… But
just be clearance, its rhetoric rather than firm actually we\'ve seen…
00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:14.999
We\'ve to move the rhetoric due to action, don\'t
you? We have to move to actually building houses
00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:19.999
and… and roads and sewers providing
the services that people need.
00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:24.999
Uh… And you have to highlight the problems
that we, that… that you\'re suggesting,
00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:29.999
that it\'s… it\'s a… it\'s a big wave coming towards us. And if we
don\'t discuss it, what… what… what\'s the… what\'s the generative?
00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:34.999
Okay, we\'ll know. What\'s… what\'s let me come up with other men.
What\'s different about this review of the City Summit in New York
00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:39.999
to the meeting in Istanbul five years ago? Is that… We\'ve
now begun to talk about the buzzword globalization.
00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:44.999
We\'ve been asking people in the cities and
we\'ve traveled to further series of Life,
00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:49.999
how they believed globalization has
affected the cities they live in.
00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:54.999
Globalization is uh… influencing Calcutta
00:09:55.000 --> 00:09:59.999
but I hope it\'s for the good. It was not yet time
for it. We were not ready for globalization.
00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:04.999
It will help people in order to increase
their knowledge and to, you know,
00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:09.999
like open the possibility to get… to get
more jobs. Its one thing to sit here
00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:14.999
and be isolated and think you eat,
because the point is so small.
00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:19.999
But now if you say job and someone\'s going to compare it New York.
Somebody\'s gonna compare it to London. And if you live here,
00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:24.999
you\'re going to have to work with those
standards too. So for me its competition,
00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:29.999
uh… and it\'s a good thing and it\'s put us on the map. Gary, isn\'t
it a problem for trying to plan cities in the 21st century,
00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:34.999
that globalization is creating winners and
losers? They have less and less in common
00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:39.999
and that makes it more and more difficult to have the kind of
common vision, that\'s made a city like Barcelona a success?
00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:44.999
Well, first of all there have
always been winners and losers.
00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:49.999
I think globalization is,
has exacerbated some trends
00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:54.999
uh… and has resulted on more attention, more
movement into cities than existed before.
00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:59.999
Uh… You know, it\'s problematic uh… in
part because most of the donor agencies
00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:04.999
and are still interested in investing in the rural
side of the equation in a globalizing scheme.
00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:09.999
More people are going to the urban because
it\'s urban centers around the world
00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:14.999
that are competing with one another, it\'s
not Nations competing with one another.
00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:19.999
I think it is a very very critical situation because for
me globalization is the possibility to lost the identity.
00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:24.999
Of losing your identity? Yeah. And then
for example, in Europe it\'s very clear.
00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:29.999
Our historical centers
in Torino, in… in Paris,
00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:34.999
in Barcelona, in Rome at a very small.
00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:39.999
The scale of the cities of Europe, one
thousand years ago was very small.
00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:44.999
And then we restore it and we
recycling the historical center,
00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:49.999
that\'s when we finish with the
architecture of the storm,
00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:54.999
with a physical architecture arrive
the McDonaldization of for example,
00:11:55.000 --> 00:11:59.999
and write there Benetton,
Coca-Cola, Pan Shang company…
00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:04.999
The brands takeover? And the landscape is not
the medieval landscape, it\'s the new landscape.
00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:09.999
And we can talk about of many, many questions
about it. And in… in the case of Barcelona,
00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:14.999
I personally I was very worried for the
possibility of losing the identity.
00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:19.999
Do you have to worry about this in India? Are you
grateful when McDonald\'s and Starbucks move in?
00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:24.999
Well, Starbucks hasn\'t. McDonald\'s has and I don\'t think it\'s contrary.
They are in the end, don\'t you? Is this a problem for you, worry you?
00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:29.999
Well, in one sense it should not be because the country
is large it can absorb all this and still survive.
00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:34.999
I think the trouble is that our cities in India where
industrial centers, you know, and manufacturing centers
00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:39.999
and now suddenly they\'re going through this process
of becoming service oriented, like, cities like
00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:44.999
Bombay or Calcutta and so on. And nobody\'s asking what\'s
happening to the people who are working in these factories
00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:49.999
which are close down. And they\'re the ones
who are being pushed the margins, you know.
00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:54.999
And you\'re… you\'re creating an unstable city.
Now in the globalized world it\'s not just money
00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:59.999
that moves around fast but people, migrants flood
into urban areas creating problems of homelessness
00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:04.999
and overcrowding in cities around
the world. With the overcrowding,
00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:09.999
there\'s also crime involved in that.
00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:14.999
So there\'s… You know, I\'ll put it
this way that, you find people
00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:19.999
most of the time people are living in fear.
The big problem here is
00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:24.999
the very poor people…
00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:29.999
these people where they are living in the street. I think
there are a lot of… a lot of extremely poor people,
00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:34.999
umm… homeless people, especially young
people, lots of kids living on the streets.
00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:39.999
Every day, every day arrived a
lot of people in Sao Paulo,
00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:44.999
another city, try to a new life, got money.
00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:49.999
It is difficult… difficult. Kalpana,
if people flock into the cities
00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:54.999
from the countryside and don\'t have
homes and end up living on the streets,
00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:59.999
umm… is it, they are involved? I
don\'t think so. I mean I think
00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:04.999
anybody who would come into a place to look for work, if
there\'s no option for housing then you squat on vacant land
00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:09.999
or on a pavement or whatever, even along
railroad tracks as we\'ve had in Bombay.
00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:14.999
And why should anybody else help you sort that out? Why should
you look to the state persistence? Well, I think it is incumbent
00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:19.999
on the state to accept the fact that cities are made out of
people who have a lot and people who don\'t have anything,
00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.999
but all contribute to the economy of the city. And
I think therefore that is the role of the state
00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:29.999
to facilitate the kind of housing which will be
affordable to people who are at the bottom of the rung.
00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:34.999
And I think the trouble has been in our cities particularly
that there has been no planning for public housing
00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:39.999
and this dates back to before independence.
00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:44.999
Do you believe, Michael, that
housing should be a human right?
00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:49.999
It\'s part of the… of the… of the Hope Human
Rights story that you… you need shelter,
00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:54.999
you need a roof. How can you operate? How can you
have dignity? How can you bring up a family?
00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:59.999
How can you… or houses,
hospital in a school?
00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.999
How can you go to work if you haven\'t got somewhere… If you
haven\'t got some… somewhere to… some space in the world to live.
00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:09.999
Also there are forced displacements. You know,
that\'s the other thing that we\'ve not discussed.
00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:14.999
And the point is people are coming in because of
infrastructure projects that are inevitably built,
00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:19.999
you know, in the rural areas like dams and all things and people
are being forced to come because they\'re just given no option.
00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:24.999
Do you accept this that housing
should be a human right?
00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:29.999
I would like to say that for many people in the city
it\'s only the buildings from the physical point of view.
00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:34.999
And the city is the balance between the
buildings and the space in between.
00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:39.999
And for example in the case
of Barcelona, if you ask me
00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.999
what is the first point, is the quality of the open
space. And this is very, very important for the people.
00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:49.999
If you go to Barcelona this
afternoon and visit the Ramblas,
00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:54.999
you will be in the core
of the city and this is
00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:59.999
the most important place, the most interesting
place, the most fashionable place
00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:04.999
and… for people. And you ask, one of
the questions we always ask now is:
00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:09.999
\"Whose place is this?\" I mean, that\'s
the importance of the public space.
00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:14.999
And Barcelona with the squares, it\'s clear
that this place belongs to the people.
00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:19.999
Public housing was never owned by the
people mentally, let alone financially
00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:24.999
by people who live there because they were isolates and
it was always the government\'s place where they were put.
00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:29.999
You were talking about globalization a few moments ago.
I think the other… the other phenomena is localization.
00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:34.999
It\'s, in fact, the importance of working together
at a local level both with, with all, with all,
00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:39.999
with the total panorama of society.
Okay. So you need to bring,
00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:44.999
you need to work with the private sector with… with the people
themselves who are actually very good at delivering what they need.
00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:49.999
Let me… Let me move on, Michael. You wanted
to raise the question of… of gender.
00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:54.999
One theme of this week\'s conference is gender, is
women, is the relative role of men and women in cities
00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:59.999
in the developed and the developing world.
Cities, after all, are built for men by men,
00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:04.999
usually but they are not built for women and surprisingly
they don\'t often work for women either as we\'ve found.
00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:09.999
I think women have a bigger opportunity to
improve their lives than they did before,
00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.999
but I don\'t think they have
an equal opportunity yet.
00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:19.999
The segregation isn\'t as bad as in other countries
where there\'s still that African myth that
00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:24.999
a woman is a subordinate, you know?
So here you\'re given an opportunity
00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:29.999
so long as you assert yourself and you work hard
at it, you do get companies that upgrade you.
00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:34.999
But all at the same time there\'s still
that thing that a woman is a woman.
00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:39.999
Wherever I might be in Calcutta I should be safe
enough and my parents should be uh… well prepared
00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:44.999
for the fact that I\'m safe enough wherever I am in Calcutta.
Now, for a lot of women in the world it\'s true, isn\'t it,
00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:49.999
that cities are very dangerous places?
Well, if, if you look at the… the figures
00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:54.999
for… for developing countries cities you\'ll find that
probably 40-50% of the households are female headed,
00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:59.999
partly because of the migration that we\'ve talked
about, partly because the… the men have left.
00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:04.999
So you have to, have to
deal with… with that fact
00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:09.999
and then you… It\'s, it\'s bad, not because of…
It\'s bad because of things like sanitation.
00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.999
You know, there, there was a meeting recently and the
woman eventually said, \"All I need is a toilet.\"
00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:19.999
You know, something simple like that.
Do you find that women are…
00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:24.999
If women… If women are running households
in the developing countries does that mean
00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:29.999
they are really the bosses rather than the \"victims?\" Well I
think it depends a lot. I mean, I think in India, for instance,
00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:34.999
in the cities actually it\'s an adverse sex ratio. There
are fewer women and there are more men. So I don\'t think
00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:39.999
that has quite happened of migration of women on
their own, but there are women headed households.
00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:44.999
And women are forced to be strong, you know, because they have to fight all the
time, especially women living in cities. I mean, I\'ve interviewed a lot of them
00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:49.999
on a variety of subjects, and they say,
\"We spend our whole lives fighting.\"
00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:54.999
You know, I\'ve talked to them about violence and they say, \"You know, what is
this abstract thing you are talking about?\" Every single day I have to fight
00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:59.999
for my five buckets of water. But I\'ll say one thing
that, when we were talking earlier about housing,
00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.999
I mean, there\'s no consultation in terms of
including women in the design of houses.
00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:09.999
You know, the reason why public housing is such a failure is not
only that the people forming the housing plan are not consulted
00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:14.999
but the women are not consulted.
Gary, you travel the world
00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:19.999
trying to help people run cities and build cities. How many of the
people who\'ve come to listen to you, of men and how many women?
00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.999
It depends very much on the audience.
Let me give… give you
00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:29.999
an industrialized world example,
because, I mean, it\'s not just that
00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:34.999
women are, have to expend so much
more energy to live their lives
00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:39.999
than men do in any sort of city context.
It\'s also that
00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.999
without women\'s voices, you can\'t
actually incorporate issues for children.
00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:49.999
You know, we were doing a comprehensive
plan for the city of Seattle and, you know,
00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:54.999
here I am large white male roaming through life,
you know, unconscious about these sort of things.
00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.999
We had advisory groups from women\'s organizations
throughout the city and we learned that
00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.999
the city looks entirely differently from the eyes of a
child than the eyes of an adult. So we had planners
00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:09.999
in little carts being pulled around the neighborhood so
they could actually see the sight lines that children see
00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.999
and found out how they were just living in a, in a world of blank
walls. You mean that… I\'m sorry, you meant that literally?
00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.999
Literally, yeah! Just out of interest, do you listen
to this and think this is a kind of thing that
00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:24.999
only a… a rich developed country would ever imagine
doing? Naturally, I mean, it\'s all wonderful to hear it
00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:29.999
but I was just thinking that when you were talking in… in the case of
Bombay for instance when the consultation about toilets took place,
00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.999
it\'s because women were included in discussing it that they
came up with the idea of having children\'s toilets, you know?
00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:39.999
Because the Indian style toilet is such
that a child cannot use it. So even though
00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.999
the municipal corporation were building toilets, children were squatting
outside those toilets because mothers didn\'t want them to use those toilets
00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.999
because they\'d fall in. You know, and so I take Gary\'s
point that, you know, I think if women are consulted
00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.999
then children\'s needs are taken care of but there\'s a huge
difference between the kind of needs that you\'re talking about
00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
and the kind of needs, you know, the very basic needs that
we have to… Okay, let\'s talk about how the cities are run.
00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
Housing, gender, crime, disorder, the fundamental
problem, of course, is that cities around the world
00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
are too often badly run. Although we found some people
who do approve of how their cities are being governed.
00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.999
There\'s a lot being done to sort out the crimes,
there\'s a lot being done to… to try and sort out
00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
the… the economic disparities, if you like.
Uh… Just like the entire country.
00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.999
I think the world is aware that a lot is being done to
fix things here. Looking at the streets of Johannesburg
00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
and looking at the standard
of living in Johannesburg
00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
and looking at the rate of unemployment in Johannesburg,
I don\'t think that it\'s being well governed.
00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
Right now in India everybody\'s looking
after their position, political position,
00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
nobody\'s thinking about
country or state, or city.
00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
Nobody bothers, they say… Kalpana,
it\'s become fashionable to say that
00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
a lot of the problems of the developing world are brought
about by bad governance, is that true in cities?
00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
Are most of them just simply badly run? Well, I think it\'s
sort of governance by default, that\'s the way I see it.
00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
You know, I think all our governments, city
governments, are walking up and down escalators,
00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
they\'re not, they\'re just about coping. There\'s nobody
who\'s thinking in terms of a vision for the city.
00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
You know, anticipating what the city would be. Is it
right, Michael, to be asking the rest of the world
00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
as Western governments effectively do,
asking their voters to help cities
00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
in developing nations when a lot of the money will disappear
in corruption… What can you… What can do about that?
00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
The whole point about encouraging governance is addressing the
problems of, tilting against corruption; having regulations
00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
that are appropriate; having… having a local
authority which is answerable to the people.
00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
Umm… I mean, the definition in my terms
of governance is decision-making.
00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
Is getting people to be involved in what… what they want.
But you can\'t just have… You also need management,
00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
you also need to follow it through with how to do it. So you
need a combination of good governance and good over-management
00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
to… to help address the problems that
we\'re… we\'re talking about. Josep, I\'m sure
00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
you don\'t have problems of corruption or… in
Barcelona. Maybe there\'s still some inefficiency?
00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
I hope. I hope so.
00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
But I don\'t understand why we talk about
corruption in relationship with the cities.
00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
That\'s where the money is. Because I think… No! Because the
money is not in the cities, is in the central governments.
00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
That\'s where the cities are!
No… no… no, the main… No!
00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
Excuse me. And I think that the main
problem of our civilization is that the,
00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
in the last century the government,
the central government
00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
has forgot of the problem of the city.
00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
In the 16th century in Florence, the main
important problem of the princeship of Medicis
00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
was the city of Florence and today the most important
problems of the presidents of the United States
00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
are not the cities. And the
cities is only for the Mayor,
00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
the most difficult and
complex job of the world.
00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
And I… I know very well because I work
in the city of Barcelona from the,
00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
during the last 20 years. Is this…
this notion that we\'re moving
00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
into an age of, almost literally of city states and
the nation state is dying out, cities are the future
00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
and will end up governing themselves. Is
this true? The economy has decided that
00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
exchanges take place between city
states, not between nations.
00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
Uh… And the whole globalization phenomenon
has been a shift from national agendas
00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
to the agendas of economic regions, uh… sometimes
within the same country, sometimes the central cities.
00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
And it\'s created a tension we haven\'t talked
about and that is charismatic mayors,
00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
people who govern well, people who can inspire
people to greatness, are always perceived
00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
to be the political rivals of the national
government. So there\'s this element of politics
00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
that also exists here, that\'s difficult
to overcome. Is that… Do you believe that
00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
cities are going take over from the nation state? No. I don\'t think so.
I mean, I don\'t think there\'s any possibility of that. And I think that
00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
what I see in the future is a
sort of - a two class system
00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
in terms of cities where you\'ll have global cities. Even within
a country like India, no matter where their economy goes,
00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
which will get all the benefits of being part of this
global economy and all the problems that come with it.
00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
And you\'ll get the other smaller cities which will continue to struggle
without getting the funding and without getting any of the attention
00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
that they ought to get. So do, do you believe, Michael,
that cities are the future? I mean, is Habitat
00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
going to be the executive of some 21st century
world government? It… Cities are here to stay.
00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
If half the cities are in a bad state, it makes the other half of the
city bad. So there\'s problems as you said of security and so on.
00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
So we have, we have to draw, to attend to
all these problems. It is the urban century
00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
we\'re moving into, first time in the history of
mankind and… and all these things have to be done.
00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
Thank you all very much indeed. Thank
you, Gary Lawrence, Josep Acebillo,
00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
Kalpana Sharma and Michael Parkes. And goodnight
from Barcelona, a city where you can see
00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
what can be done when people agree how
to build the cities of the future.
00:25:55.000 --> 00:26:03.000
[music]